.I Didn't Know.

I was never one to dream big dreams. Oh, I am a dreamer, but the storyboard for my dreams were all sweet and safe. They really were such good dreams about loving Jesus well by raising babies and loving my husband and making a home and filling bellies and always writing in between. I was never called brave. I was just normal, and I was really content and really happy right in the middle of that normal life.

But adoption took me places that I never dreamed of going.

Five years ago we walked off of an airplane dazed and naïve and stood in a country that was so far away and so different from the one that we called home. We left two beautiful blonde babies with grandparents and embarked on a journey that would change everything about our entire lives for our entire lives. And as dramatic as that sounds, it is entirely true. It would change us, our family, and the ripples would impact everyone who loved us. Looking back I really did not know that this would be the case. I didn’t know so much. I did not know that five years ago was the end of the life I once knew and the beginning of the life I now live.

I didn’t know how hard this journey would be or the toll that it would take. I thought I was getting off of that plane to meet my baby. And I was doing that, but I didn’t know that my baby was coming to me with so many special needs and diagnoses that five years ago I had never even heard of. I didn’t know that we would also meet our older son, and that we would soon disrupt the birth order of our family and jump headfirst into parenting an older child, with no prior experience or foundation with this child. I didn’t know that I was preparing to enter a few years of desert wandering as we wrestled through things I never knew existed until I was strangled in it - things like post adoption depression. I didn’t know the darkness and isolation that I would feel in the midst of the joy of building this family. I didn’t know trauma and heartache and sadness, or the way it can wrap around one’s heart and whisper all of my parenting failures every time my eyes opened in the morning. I didn’t know that love is not enough to fix all of those broken hurt places and cover all of those stories that I not only wish I could unhear, but even more so wish I could unwrite. I didn’t know that truly only Jesus is enough, and that I would grasp and claw after Him like never before. I didn’t know accusations would arise simply because we were giving this our all, and sometimes that looks so, so different from normal.

I also didn’t know just how strong our marriage was and how united we really were as a team. I didn’t know the intense love I would feel as I looked across a room and saw my husband tangled in the arms of a sobbing teenager, or cupping his chin while speaking truth against the lies he fights against, or the way my heart would feel out of control as he cleaned up vomit for the thousandth time, or fought on the phone with doctors and lawyers, and stood in front of person after person demanding this child be made his son, and that child receive the proper treatment, and all the while loving the other two just as he did when there were only two. I didn’t know how brave my blonde babies were or how enormous their hearts were until I saw them make room for their brothers and embrace them with everything inside their little bodies. Or how proud I would be when the tears and rages come, and they quietly move out of the way and pray for Jesus to heal the hurt, and rub backs with their little hands, and whisper wise words, and forgive and give grace and remind me of what it means to love. I didn’t know how much they would understand this journey and teach us along the way. I didn’t understand how courageous two boys were who folded themselves into our family and learned what it meant to be a son. I didn’t know how much I would enjoy a family spread out in ages, how much a teenager can love the baby of the family, and how fun our lives have become with littles and a big, and all of the good that comes with having both.

Five years ago, I embraced a thirteen month old baby, and collided with a ten year old boy, and everything changed. I could not have known what was to come, the depth of pain, the unspeakable joy, the stories we would share, the places we would go, the tears we would sob, the laughs that we would exchange, the millions of I love yous and I am sorry; please forgive me’s that would need to be said and resaid, the thousands of photos to prove to him that yes, we are family and no, we are not going anywhere without you, the memories that we have forged and fought for, the wounds HE would heal, the lessons we had to learn, the hard we had to endure, and the life we get to live.

I didn’t know that leaving behind normal would be this good.

Five years ago we flew across the ocean, landed in a strange world, met two little boys and everything changed.

Happy Meetcha Day Jameson Yonas Byron and Habtamu Theo Byron.

Now we know that you were exactly who we were waiting for.

.Family.

Eighteen years ago, President Clinton declared November to be "National Adoption/Orphan Awareness Month". Eighteen years ago I was on the brink of turning 16. I was consumed with me. This continued for so many years. The only orphan I knew anything about was "Orphan Annie", and adoption was something risky that people who could not have "their own" children did. It was kind of weird, and it was for those crazy people. In all my years growing up in a legalistic Baptist church, and then attending a Bible college, I never once heard someone from the pulpit preach or teach on our mandate to care for orphans.

And I certainly did not investigate it myself.

What shocks me the most now, is that adoption was not even really mentioned in relation to the gospel, and it is such an important piece of the gospel. If it was mentioned, it was quickly glossed over with words like "spirit of adoption" and tied up in theological mumbo-jumbo, and then it was on to the next subject. It was never personalized. It was never intimate.

But WE were orphans, and God, through His beloved Son Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross - in our place, adopted us and made us His children. He eradicated our orphan status. He brought us into His family as His own, and we share all of the same blessings as His beloved Son, Jesus. We are no longer outcasts, we are no longer fatherless!

Read it again. How amazingly beautiful is this? And THIS is adoption. This is why we adopt. This is why we care for orphans - because God first cared for us and our heart is overflowing and bursting with that love - in a way that wants to physically express it. THIS is why I believe God calls so many believers to adopt. It really has less to do with the orphan and their need, and more to do with God gifting us with a breath-taking picture of the gospel. It is more about what happens inside of us when we say "yes". I have not experienced anything more beautiful than this tangible portrait of the gospel living and breathing inside of my own home.

And I could have missed it.

Because adoption was not my choice. Adoption is not something I ever planned to walk through. But, oh how God breaks down barriers, and lies, and preconcieved notions, and life plans, and how He replaces them with His ways, His vision, His love, and His plans.

I know that adoption is not God's plan for every Christian family. However, I also know that His plan is for every Christian family to care for the orphan in a personal, intimate way. We do not all need to make orphans sons and daughters, and bring them into our homes, but we do all need to do something.

Orphan care is not a fad. It is a mandate. Go ahead read your Bible, search out our responsibility to orphans. If we believe in Jesus Christ, we do not have an option to care for the orphan, but we do have an option in how we care for them.

Let's stop debating if we are called. Let's step up to the call, and please, let's support and encourage one another in the process.

Because if you are a believer, and I am a believer, we are all adopted into the same family, with the same Father. It's time to start acting like a family. I am weary of the Church functioning as an orphanage - broken, destitute, cold -  rather than a family. A family filled with the HOPE of Jesus.

Please join me on your knees for the millions of children around our globe that lay their head down tonight without the love of a daddy or a mommy. This is a reality that should haunt us. Let's get busy for these precious children, created in the image of God.

Let's have hard conversations about family reunification and family preservation. Let's talk about orphan prevention first and then orphan care. Let's advocate for ethical adoptions, but only when the previous attempts have been exhausted.

And friends, let's remember the reason we do any of this, the reason we love, is because we are loved. In the center of all of this is Jesus. Let's move forward without losing sight of His face.

Adoption is not just about couples who want children - or who want more children. Adoption is about an entire culture within our churches, a culture that sees adoption as part of our Great Commission mandate and as a sign of the gospel itself... I want to ask what it would mean if our churches and families were known as the people who adopt babies - and toddlers, and children, and teenagers. What if we as Christians were known, once again, as the people who take in orphans and make of them beloved sons and daughters?


No one wants parents who adopt children out of the same sense of duty with which they may give to the building fund for the new church gymnasium. But all of us have a stake in the adoption issue, because Jesus does. He is the one who tells us His Father is also "Father of the fatherless" (Psalm 68:5). And, He is the one who insists on calling "the least of these" His "brothers" (Matthew 25:40) and who tells us that the first time we hear His voice, He will be asking us if we did the same.
 ~ Russell D. Moore

.Anthony.

This is my brother-in-law Anthony.

He is married to my husband's middle sister, Joelle, and they have three beautiful boys.

This was a very rough summer for their family. This spring Anthony was scheduled to have shoulder surgery (he suffers from chronic shoulder pain), but when he went in for his pre-op chest x-ray a 10 cm mass was found on his lung. Anthony underwent extensive testing, and at one point the doctors believed it may be as minor as pneumonia - we were on our knees asking God to make it be so. But God's plans have been different than our plans, and as much as we trust Him, this road has been hard.

In July Anthony was diagnosed with lung cancer.

The first treatment plan was surgery to remove a large portion of his lung. However, the surgery was not successful as the cancer was more pervasive than the doctors had originally thought. He then when on to radiation and chemotherapy. The results have not been what the doctors were hoping for. So two weeks ago Anthony began another treatment plan - a very aggressive one. He is now undergoing 5 hour long chemotherapy sessions every few weeks. He had his first round two weeks ago, and he will have the next one on August 26.

While Anthony and Joelle do, thankfully, have health insurance, it just does not begin to cover the medical expenses that are now piling up. My heart aches to watch them fight this disease, and at the same time have to worry about the mounting bills. Anthony has been very positive through this whole experience. Every time I see him he gives me a huge smile and hug, and Joelle has been the one holding her boys and family together. They are at a point in their journey where they need help, though. Jim has designed a special fundraising shirt for Anthony with Anthony's "fighting mantra" on it. Would you please consider checking it out here?

Will you please pray for them? Please pray that this new more aggressive treatment plan will be the plan that works, that God would be glorified, and that He would bring healing to Anthony's body. Also pray for strength and peace for all of them as they battle this.

We are praying and believing that God can heal Anthony. God's already won.

.Nuts and Bolts.

Details regarding our call to Ethiopia from my husband, Jim.

Picture yourself standing in a grassy field looking at the back end of a cow. In the air you smell the faint aroma of barbecue as you watch this curious sight: a cow leaning so hard over a fence to get a bite of the grass just beyond reach, that the electrified wires at the top of said fence actually begin cooking her flesh. As you step back, you notice that there is far more luscious grass right at her feet. This is a sight I have seen- and a reality I have lived.

I was that cow.

For so many years I wrestled with looking over the fence and wanting a taste of the grass on the other acre that I now wrestle every time an opportunity comes into my path. “Is this my nature, or is this God?” For years now I have wanted to move my family to the place my heart calls home, but because I could never be sure it was what God wanted more than my affinity for wanting something on the “other side,” I waited.

A few weeks back my family came from all over the east coast to gather for a week of fun, hanging out, and rest. As a part of that week, we threw a huge “Ethiopian Party”—the works, Doro Wat, Tesga Wat, Dinich Wat, Injera, Timatim, and all the other sides. I remember everyone eating, laughing and reminiscing about their times enjoying the ET culture. Then, everyone left, all was cleaned up, left overs in the fridge and I sat at the table nursing my cane sugar Coke (a must for an Ethiopian feast). My head was hung- there it is again… the Ethio-depression. My mom was the only one left in the kitchen and she walked over and asked what was wrong… I told her I could not explain it. I could not form the words to explain how I was synthetically home for a few hours, and now have to grapple with being teleported back to the place where I fit so well before, but no longer fit at all. How when I ticked past thirty, all I wanted and want for my life is to matter for the King, and how I didn't—not here, not like this. Honestly, I can’t anymore—it is literally not in me, maybe one day it will return, but right now, I just don’t have it.

Fast forward a week in which God began to show His plan. Like a soft, “Are you ready?” My friend was in the closing weeks before beginning his life with his bride in Ethiopia. He told me how everything was going, I asked about a bunch of things—and then he dropped the bomb on me: I am closing the Guest House. I asked a bunch of questions, and in the end he said, If you want it, you can have it.

Instantly I was faced with the question, “Is this Him, or is this me leaning over the fence?”

So, we stopped. We put down all of our devices, all the screens, all the distractions… and we fasted and prayed. We begged, yelled, cried, and asked for clear direction.

And it came - Ethiopia.

So how do we proceed?

At this point there is still a plethora of details floating in space and a million things could change, but this is where we are right now.

We will be working toward a Business as Missions model. This means that the long term goal would be that the Guest Home would provide for all of our financial needs. We think that it will take at least two years to get to that place. The Guest Home has been put together and legalized, furnished, etc. However, it still needs management, marketing, etc. That is where we will come in. This home has hosted very few guests, and still needs some improvements. We may even change homes prior to our management of it. Because there is a transition taking place, we are unsure how much turnover there may be. You can pray with us that we are wise in the avenues we utilize to market and manage. Not only will we be hoping for provision from it, but there are many Ethiopian families relying on its success as well.

In the time before the Guest Home is completely viable, we will need to raise support to live. Right now we think those numbers look as follows: $35,000 of upfront money that we are hoping to raise from individuals, churches, and businesses (We have already raised $5,000 of this). And then we are hoping to raise about $15,000 annually, with a two year commitment from churches, individuals, and/or businesses. So, in total that would be $65,000 for two years. These numbers are subject to change as we are doing a bunch of research right now, and may look huge or tiny, depending on your background in missions, etc. These numbers are frankly quite small for two years on the field. Essentially, most missionaries to Ethiopia are raising at least this much money annually and it does not have the ability to multiply. Because we are doing Business as Missions, we can raise fewer funds (anticipating that the Guest House will at least support in part toward next year and in full by the end of the two years.) In addition, we are hoping to partner with an already existing ministry that has taken care of its own funding, so we will not have the burden of raising additional funds for ministry expenses. Please pray with us that God connects us with some individuals, churches, and businesses that see the value in what we are doing and support us as we move forward with this.

That is the survival part. The mission part is this:

Our passion and hearts lie in serving and ministering to the 100,000 children living on the streets of Addis. There is a new ministry project being launched for these boys and girls. We have spoken with the founders of Make Your Mark, Trent and Carmen Post, and they are in need of people who can step in and help. It is our desire to be those people. How this partnership will look and when we can say we are “on board” with them, etc. is all up in the air, but right now we are all praying though the possibilities. Tiffany and I are extremely excited at the possibilities here, as our hearts are drawn so by the boys who have been put in situations just like our Habi. We believe that our family is tailor made to help in a ministry just like this. We have read through the Make Your Mark plan, and believe in what they are trying to accomplish. It is a God sized, complicated plan… just the kind of thing we are looking to jump in on! You can read all about their plan here. Please pray with us that we would have clarity regarding this partnership and that God would continue to put the details together. It was awesome talking to the Posts via Skype. For me, the most memorable moment was their relaying the fact that they have been asking God to find them partners in His way, and how those prayers coordinated with our sensing His call for us. They will be here fund raising for the rest of the summer, and if things heat up, we may travel down to North Carolina to meet them in person and discuss things further. No matter what or how God orchestrates the pieces, we know that he has burdened our hearts for the street kids in Addis, and that is where will we be serving.

That is the mission. Here is the time table:

We are hoping to be standing on Ethiopian soil by the beginning of January. This means that we have to trust God to do some God-sized things. We need to complete Habi’s adoption (At this moment we are at a complete stand still, because we do not have the money to proceed. The next step is to petition the court for his case, but first we need to pay our lawyer $3,000 for that to happen. We have already paid $10,000, and we are begging God to provide for this need as well.) We need to sell all of our possessions – including our home and vehicle, and we need to raise all the funds in a pretty short window of time. Please pray with us that we would get those things done so that we can move forward with this time table. There are some issues that are time sensitive with the Guest Home, where we will need to be there to get things going so we can move forward!

In the end, this is a God-sized thing that only He can accomplish. Pray with us that He continues to light the way as we follow his path. Pray that we would see His plans and say yes, and amen to Him every time. Pray that God would prepare our hearts, donors hearts, our kids hearts, and the hearts of our extended family as they are forced into seeing their children, sister, brother, grandchildren, nieces and nephews move across the globe.

Thank you for always taking the journey with us!

Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.

.Gena Revisted {Ethiopian Recipes}.

{Hover mouse over center of photo to Pin it!}

Habi hand grinding fresh roasted Ethiopian coffee beans. A coffee ceremony with sweet popcorn served is an absolute must!

 I have been meaning to share these recipes for weeks now, but time just slips through my fingers. I am finally getting around to sitting down and typing these out. These Ethiopian recipes will most likely only be of interest to families who have adopted children from Ethiopia (or perhaps other African countries), but maybe if you are a foodie, or like to experiment in the kitchen, you will find a recipe that interests you.

Ethiopia celebrates Christmas on a different day then we do here in America. This year Gena (Christmas) was on January 7th. We kept Habi home from school, and we went all out in celebrating. The day ended up being really fun and special, and we made some great memories together as a family. It is very important for us to be able to tie in Ethiopian culture with our American life. I never want my boys to forget their beautiful heritage or to be ashamed about where they came from, so we celebrate it whenever we can. Our family is really blessed to have Habi in our family, he came to us older and with so many memories from his life and Ethiopian culture that he can share with us. There is so much that he has taught us, and it makes my heart  happy that these traditions will be passed down to Jamesy.

I love Ethiopian cuisine. I could seriously eat it every. single. day. I know that probably sounds strange to people who have more milder taste preferences, but as for me - I crave it. Many of the recipes are spicy. The key spice used in Ethiopia is berbere - it is a red pepper spice. The spiciness of a dish is typically determined by how much of this spice is used. You can purchase berbere here. I also found a recipe for it here. We purchase ours in Ethiopia and bring it back with us, as it is much cheaper that way.

Most Ethiopian dishes are served on top of injera (a large sour flat bread), the food is eaten sans silverware and is scooped up using broken pieces of injera. Ethiopians only use their right hand when eating, and the left hand is placed on their lap. Typically a meal is served on a big communal plate that everyone shares - meals are very relationship oriented. I have tried to make injera before, but we really prefer to buy it. We buy it in bulk and freeze it, and it has worked beautifully for us. You can purchase injera here. We typically purchase the yellow label injera. It is very authentic tasting - Habi agrees.

I also have a confession. Doro Wat - the signature Ethiopian chicken stew (which is Jim and Habi's favorite dish) calls for Niter Kebbeh which is a spiced butter. You will notice in my recipe, that I only have regular butter listed in the ingredients. That is all that I use. I do not spend hours making the Niter Kebbeh, because when I have done so, the wat tastes no. different. Habi LOVES my Doro Wat and says that it is very authentic, and Habi is very truthful when it comes to food! Ha! So, save yourself some time, and try it my way. {grin}

Here are the recipes that I made for Gena. I have a few others that we make regulary as well, but I will share them another time. None of these recipes are original to me, although I have tweaked some of them with the help of Habi. A few of them are directly from Habi (he is an amazing chef), and most of them are from scouring the Internet the past few years. Unfortunately when I printed these out for my recipe box, I did not print out the source. I apologize for that.

Lentil Sambusas (not very spicy)
A fried pastry with a savory filling - could be used as an appetizer.

Ingredients:

2 T olive oil
1/2 C chopped onion
4 cloves minced garlic
1 T paprika
1 T ginger, minced
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 C dry red wine
2 C chicken or vegetable stock
1 C lentils
16 won ton wrappers

Method:

In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic, and saute until tender. Add paprika, ginger, allspice, cayenne, coriander, cardamom, and cumin, and saute for 30 seconds. Add red wine, stock, and lentils, turn heat to high and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer, and cover, and simmer until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Cut the won ton wrappers in half to form rectangles. Place a wrapper vertically on a flat surface. Put a rounded T of filling on the lower ends of one of the rectangles. Fold the left bottom corner up and over the filling until it meets the right edge of the wrapper and forms a triangle. Next, flip the filled triangle up and over, folding along its upper edge. Then fold it over to the left on a diagonal. Continue folding until you reach the end of the wrapper and have formed a neat triangular package. Repeat with the other wrappers. Deep-fry each pastry until golden in 2-3 inches of oi; heated to 360 F. You can keep the fried sambusas in a warm oven until they are all ready to be served. These are best eaten hot.

Timatim Firfir
An Ethiopian style bread salad - uses injera. This can be made ahead of time.

Ingredients:

1 tsp berbere
1/3 cup wine (white, rose or red) or tej
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 C olive oil
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 Jalapeno, chopped
1/2 Anaheim pepper, chopped
1 clove diced garlic.
1 fresh injera ripped into small pieces

Method:

Mix berbere with wine. Add lemon juice and olive oil. Add tomatoes, onions, peppers and garlic, Mix well.
Break injera into small pieces and add to mixture. Let sit until liquid is absorbed (about 1 hour). Serve cold. Refrigerate mixture in bottle or jar.


Key Sir (not spicy)
Red beets with potatoes. This can be made ahead of time.

Ingredients:

1 lb. yellow potatoes -peeled and bite size
1 lb. red beet roots
1/4 C fresh lemon juice
2 T peanut oil
1/2 onion, finely diced
1/4-1/2 tsp. salt - to taste
1/4 tsp yellow mustard seeds
Pinch of ground fenugreek seeds

Method:

Wash and trim the beets, and simmer in a medium saucepan for about 35-45 minutes (depending on size), or until tender. Remove the beets from the liquid, and slice in half. Remove the skins from the beets - they should rub right off with a paper towel. Dice into bite-sized pieces.

Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan, gently simmer the peeled and bite-sized diced potatoes for 20-25 minutes, or until tender. Drain the potatoes, and let them dry out a little bit in the warm pot.

While the beets and potatoes are cooking, dice the onion, and place it in a large serving bowl with the lemon juice and peanut oil. When the potatoes have dried off a little, add them (still warm) to the onion mixture, and gently combine. Add the beets, and stir through until everything is a lovely shade of pink. Toast the yellow mustard seeds just until they start popping, then pour them over the salad, along with the salt and fenugreek powder. Stir well to combine. you can make this up to three days in advance. keep tightly covered in the refrigerator.


Kik Alicha (not spicy)
A vegetarian, yellow split pea stew. This can be made ahead of time.

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil
2 large red onions, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. fresh ginger, minced
3 C water
1/2 tsp turmeric
3/4 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper -to taste
1 C yellow split peas - soaked overnight and rinsed

Method:

In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, dry cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften. Add the oil and when it begins to sputter, add the garlic and ginger and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute, Add the water, turmeric, salt, and pepper. Cover and bring to a boil. Add the split peas, return to a boil and partially cover, reduce heat and maintain a simmer until peas have softened, around 45-60 minutes, Watch to see if you need to add more water, Mash the peas. Serve warm.


Gomen (mildly spicy)
Fragrant collard greens

Ingredients:

2 bunches of collard greens
1 large onion, chopped
1/3 C olive oil
2-3tsp each of minced garlic and ginger
2 Jalapenos, deseeded and chopped
salt - to taste

Method:
Pull off the leaves of the collard greens and discard stems. Tear the leaves into medium-sized pieces (just small enough to get them into the pot for cooking - you'll chop them into smaller pieces later) and wash them well under cold water. Bring a large stockpot of salted water to a boil and add the greens. Cook for about 10-15 minutes - the greens should change color and soften. Drain in a large colander and rinse with cold water. Squeeze out all of the excess moisture and chop into small pieces. Set aside. Cook the onions dry on medium heat until they start to soften and turn translucent, about seven minutes, Add the oil and cook for several minutes. Then add the garlic, ginger, and jalapenos and saute for several more minutes. Add the chopped greens and stir well, ensuring that the greens are thoroughly mixed in with other ingredients. Add salt and cook on medium-low until the greens have soak in the flavor.


Ayib
Fresh Ethiopian cheese. Must make this a day in advance.

Ingredients:

1/2 gallon buttermilk plus 1 C whole milk
2/3 C lemon juice
salt and pepper

Method:

Bring the buttermilk and milk to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and pour in the lemon juice. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring constantly, until curds begin to form. Remove from the heat.
Line a sieve or colander with cheesecloth. Spoon the curdled milk into the sieve or collander and rinse with cold, running water to remove any lingering lemon flavor from the curds. Place over a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate and let drain for 8 hours or overnight. Discard the liquid. Place the cheese in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Doro Wat (spicy)
Spicy chicken stew

Ingredients:

8-12 chicken thighs
4 T fresh lemon juice
4 tsp salt
4 onions, finely chopped
1/2 C butter
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp ground fenugreek
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 - 1 C Berbere (1 C will be very spicy)
4 T paprika
1/2 C dry red wine
3 C. water water
1 hard-boiled egg per person
Freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Rinse and dry the chicken pieces. Rub them with lemon juice and salt. In a heavy enamel stew pot, cook the onions, dry, over moderate heat for about 5 minutes. Do not let brown or burn. Stir in the butter. Then add the garlic and spices. Stir well. Add the berbere and paprika, and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Pour in the wine and water and bring to a boil. Cook briskly, uncovered, for about 5 minutes. Pat the chicken dry and drop it into the simmering sauce, turning the pieces about until coated on all sides. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 1 hour. Meanwhile, pierce the hard-boiled eggs with the tines of a fork, piercing approximately 1/4" into the egg all over the surface. After the chicken has cooked, add the eggs and turn them gently in the sauce. Cover and cook the doro wat for 15 more minutes. Add pepper to taste.

Please share this post with other adoptive families. My hope is that I have done some of the leg work, so that other families can celebrate their childrens' amazing culture and heritage. All of these recipes have been made by me and tasted by my family. They are all amazing, and they all have Habi's stamp of approval as authentic-tasting. Enjoy!

.When God Dreams for You.

Sometimes following God and taking a risk leads to dreams that were buried in my heart. Dreams I didn't even know existed until they were fulfilled. Dreams I couldn't know existed because they were too big to wrap my thoughts around. A dream too big to fulfill without God's hand working out all of the details.

That's how God designed my family.

My dream for my family was very vanilla - plain, typical, bland, ordinary, comfortable, safe - black and white errr....maybe just white {grin}.

In this new dream - the crazy beautiful one that God planted in my heart - I have learned that I can love children that I did not birth just as fiercly as I love the children that I did birth. And that feels pretty amazing knowing only God can create something as beautiful as that.

I have learned that God loves to give good gifts, and that He uses my children to shadow His love for me.

I have learned that the blood flowing through our veins, and DNA, or matching eyes and smiles are not what binds us as a family. It really is love. Love that Jesus has for me, overflowing into, and then out of, my heart and blanketing their hearts.

Love really is thicker than blood and genetics and family trees. We are all covered by His blood - His tangible LOVE - and  we are all made in His image, anyway. We all match in some way, because we all mirror parts of our Creator. We all look the same inside, and the outside merely brings beauty and diversity into our home. A reflection of the creativity and masterpiece of our Creator.

God's dream has opened my eyes to the extraordinary way He can push an ordinary family to love BIG and deep and wide - through the way He loves us BIG and deep and wide.

When it comes to redemption it takes time. Time to heal and bind up hearts. Time to move forward and gather courage. And that time? It is a gift - a gift to be treasured and nurtured and protected.

This new dream, this one that is piecing my family together has taught me to slow and to breathe and to let go. Let go of the expectations of others, let go of  the expectations of myself. Let go of the standards that keep me too busy, and embrace this messy season more completely by being present in the mess and not consumed by it.

When I look at these portraits I don't see black and white.  I am not colorblind, though. I recognize and celebrate our beautiful colors, but they are not what stands out to me. Some of us have an Ethiopian heritage, some of us do not, some of us have scarred hearts and hidden hurts, all of us have sin and hurts, fears and lies that Jesus came to redeem and erase. But when I look at these photos my heart nearly bursts with joy, because all I see is the people I love most in all of this world. The people I would go to death for. The people that have seen me at my worst and at my best and consistently love me. The man that I have loved since I was just fifteen years old. The four stunning children that have all been born to me in the same way -  through painful labor and anguish and prayer.

When I look at these photos I see one thing alone - a great big dream that only God could have dreamed when He put us together and made us FAMILY.

When I look at these photos, all I see is my family.

*All photos captured by Red Balloon photography.

.Snapshots of Life.